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Herbert Smith Freehills has promoted key members of its India practice Siddhartha Shukla and Dhananjaya Chak, to partnership. Both London-based lawyers are Indian law graduates and English law qualified and boast impressive track records of advising on India-related transactions and projects in their area of expertise. 

Chris Parsons, Chair of the India Practice said: “Congratulations to these outstanding individuals on their well-deserved promotions. The promotions are a milestone for our India practice as we support the new generation of leaders that will continue to work with our clients on their most important strategic Indian-related projects and investments."

Sid Shukla

Sid is a cross-border M&A specialist focussing on high-value, complex transactions, including joint ventures and growth / private capital investments. 

Sid is dual-qualified in India (advocate, non-practising) and England and Wales (solicitor) and has over 10 years' experience in working across a number of sectors (including in particular TMT/Tech and real estate) and key global geographies and international corridors (including in particular US-UK/EMEA, India-UK/Europe, Australia-UK, South Africa-UK and Japan-UK). 

He has advised on some of the most significant international cross-border M&A transactions that the firm has worked on, including India related international transactions for prominent Indian corporates including the Bharti group, ArcelorMittal, Godrej Consumer, JSW Steel, InterGlobe, and Reliance.

He is an alumnus of National Law University, Jodhpur and was one of the first Indian graduates to have been recruited by the firm through its Indian internship programme.

Sid Shukla commented: “I am thrilled to be joining the partnership at HSF, and to be the first homegrown Indian to do so. I feel proud to be a partner at a firm which has been an important participant in India’s global growth journey.”

He added, “I am looking forward to the next leg of my journey and to continue contributing to the firm, our India practice, and to our clients.

Dhananjaya Chak

Dhananjaya is a finance specialist and heads the India project finance practice. He has extensive experience acting for sponsors and lenders on the full spectrum of brownfield infrastructure acquisition financings across Europe and the UK (including multisource, holdco and midco financing) as well as greenfield project financing in Africa and Southeast Asia (with a particular focus on India). In recent years, he has advised clients including the International Finance Corporation, GIC, EDEN India and Azure Power on a number of significant energy and infrastructure financing transactions.

Dhananjaya is dual-qualified in England and Wales (solicitor) and India (advocate, non-practising). He is an alumnus of Nalsar, Hyderabad and prior to joining the firm in 2015 he worked in the project finance practice of a leading international law firm in London.

Dhananjaya Chak commented: “I am really excited to be joining the partnership at HSF, a firm with a track record of working on the most significant India-related mandates. India is one of the world's largest and most important energy and infrastructure geographies and I am particularly looking forward to working with clients and colleagues to unlock financing opportunities and accelerate growth in this market."

Key contacts

Dhananjaya Chak photo

Dhananjaya Chak

Partner, London

Dhananjaya Chak
Siddhartha Shukla photo

Siddhartha Shukla

Partner, London

Siddhartha Shukla